Shattered
by SanityWithoutMind
Summary: Some things are broken beyond repair.


**Disclaimer:** I own nothing

**A/N: **I don't know what this is or where I'm going with it, but it exist.

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><p><em>It's funny how much things can change in one year. Change, it's one of those unstoppable forces. It will come whether you beg it to or not. It will come, and when it does you have no choice but to bend to its will. It's a force that cannot and should never be regarded lightly.<em>

_Sometimes change is slow, gradual, to the point where you don't even realize it's happening. One moment you're a child, lost confused, trying to find your place in the world. Then time passes, and you grow use to the knowledge that there are others suffering. You grow use to fighting in an grown man's war. You grow use to knowing that enemies are around the corner, or sometimes lurking at your feet. You wake up one day, and suddenly realize that you're an adult. An adult in a child's body._

_In times of war children always tend to grow up too fast. They're asked to do impossible deeds and fulfill request too grand of them. They're told to conquer whole nations, make it rain fire, and to purify the world. Or they're told to save it, to accomplish the impossible and stop one hundred years of turmoil. To be stronger, faster, sharper, better._

_Many times, change is fast. One moment, the exiled prince, the next the ruler of the Fire Nation. One moment, you're the World's most powerful fire bender. The next, you're just an old man sitting in the cell of a smelly prison. One moment, you're about to be crowned Fire Lord, the next, your sitting in the mental ward after having a psychotic break._

_Life changes fast, and it leaves a bitter taste in your mouth._

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><p>"Lady Azula, you have a visitor."<p>

Azula looked up from the journal she was writing in. She was told to write in it every day to help her record her thoughts. As if they were afraid her thoughts would drift away. She had already lost her mind, hadn't she? There wasn't anything left to lose.

"Princess Azula. Not Lady, Princess. I may be stuck in this looney bin for the rest of my life, but learn your place. I am still your superior and you will refer to me as such." She said, her voice not having lost any of its fire.

She was tired. She was tired of living like this, wasting away in her quarters. Her hospital room was her prison cell, only with sterile walls and a nurse wearing one of those ugly green caps coming by every hour to check up on her.

"I see you haven't changed at all." A tall figure walked into her room gave her a serious look. Always so serious, so intense.

"Must you always sound so somber?" She asked finally turning around to see him in full view. He had gotten older, there were dark circles under his eyes and he had this weary look about him. Still, he held himself with pride and dignity, just as the Fire Lord should. "So what has brought the great Fire Lord Zuko all the way down to my lowly quarters?" She sneered at him.

"It's been a long time, sister." She rolled her eyes, but motioned for him to take a seat anyway. She waved her hand to dismiss the servant who left them to their privacy.

She should be thankful, after all, she was now indebted to him now. He had spoken in favor of her to the Avatar, and to the leaders of all the nations, to ask for her pardon.

She's just suffered a mental break down. Can't you see what she needs is help - medical treatment - not to rot away in some cell. She didn't cast a rain of fire among the Earth Kingdom. She was just following orders, was just doing what she was told. It was her duty, that was all.

And what good did it all do. Everyone always said she was insane, here was their proof. A good old laugh at Azula's expense. Oh, what had become of her. The broken princess, the shattered girl.

"You look tired, Your Majesty." Her voice took on a different tone for her last words, spoken with venom aimed directly at the person sitting with her.

"I've had a lot to do, what with helping the Avatar restore peace and balance to the world the Fire Nation almost destroyed." He kept his voice and expression level and calm. She was almost proud at how well he was managing to keep his little temper under control. No doubt Mai was helping him with his diplomacy skills. It was no secret his were awful.

"Yes, and I suppose now everyone is going to hold hands and sing about how we're all equal and important in our own special way."

"I didn't come here to be mocked, Azula."

"Then why did you come here?" At this, he immediately withdrew into himself. She raised an eyebrow and prompted him to continue. "Well?"

"I went to see our father some time ago." He began, looking as if it was painful for him remember he was related to that man. Maybe he should be, surely people haven't forgotten who had oppressed them in the first place. He who had come so close to ruling the world, or destroying it.

"Planning a family reunion, then?" He gave her a sharp look for interrupting. She gave a dramatic sigh and rolled her hand, motioning for him to go on.

"He revealed something important to me." At this, Azula gave her brother her full attention. A mixture of jealousy and curiosity rose in her, what could have been so important he kept it from her, his most loyal subject?

"I want to find our mother."

"What?" She shrieked, standing up so quickly she knocked her chair over backwards. "You can't be serious!"

"I am serious. I think I know where to start looking and I want to find her."

"No, you can't. You can't." She didn't understand why he would ask something like this of her. How it filled her with dread, with hatred. It poured into her like a flash flood, filling her with this impending doom that she couldn't get out of. She couldn't take it, she wouldn't do it. She didn't know when she started shaking, or when Zuko was suddenly standing over her. She didn't realize it until he was reaching out to her.

"No!" She wailed again pushing him away. She stumbled away the back of her legs hitting a table. She glared at it before flipping it over, causing the tea set to crash to the floor.

Zuko kept coming towards her, so she kept running. Over the broken table and tea cups to the other side of the room. A mirror hung on the wall in a pretty iron frame. So elegant and beautiful. Just like her mother. She clung to it, her hair was stick up at odd ends and her eyes had this wild look about them. No wonder they locked her up here. Behind her reflection her mother was coming towards her. Had Zuko found her already? So quick, but he was always her favorite, of course he would have.

"Azula, please." She heard the woman in the mirror say. "Calm down, you don't need to do this."

"Stay away from me!" She screamed as she ripped the mirror off the wall and turned around to throw it at her mother. It shattered on impact, but in the broken pieces she could still see her mother staring back at her. "Why wont you leave me alone?" She cried again, dropping to her knees in misery. "Why did you make me into this monster?"

The nurses were coming into her room again. Zuko was talking to them, apologizing for something. Promising to pay for all the broken things. They assured him it was no problem, everything would be fixed. What about her? She was broken. Would she be fixed, too?

Yes, change was a funny thing, especially when it was sudden. Once upon a time she had the entire world trembling at her feet. Now all that laid beneath her were bits of shattered glass.


End file.
